The present invention is directed to woven fabrics that are densely woven to have high warp yarn and fill yarn cover factors and that include fill yarns having a weight per unit length less than the weight per unit length of warp yarns of the woven fabric, and more specifically, to the use of such fabrics as puncture-resistant layers in the construction of sportswear and rugged outerwear.
A wide variety of natural and synthetic fabrics are known in the prior art for constructing sportswear, rugged outerwear, protective clothing, etc. (for example, gloves, aprons, chaps, pants, boots, gators, shirts, jackets, coats, socks, shoes, undergarments, vests, waders, hats, gauntlets, etc.). Typically, vestments designed for use as rugged outerwear have been constructed of relatively loosely-woven fabrics made from natural and/or synthetic fibers having a relatively low strength or tenacity (for example, cotton, polyesters, polyacrylics, polypropelene, etc.), with each fiber having a tensile strength or tenacity of less than about 8 grams g/Denier (gpd)), more typically less than about 5 gpd, and in some cases below about 3 gpd. While such materials can have a variety of beneficial properties, for example, dyeability, breathability, lightness, comfort, and in some instances, abrasion-resistance, such low-strength, low cover materials typically have poor puncture, tear, and cut resistance. Although the fabric design has a great deal to do with the performance of the materials.
In addition, a variety of high-strength materials for producing yarns and fabrics have also been employed in the prior art for applications involving ballistic armor, industrial, military, or law enforcement protective gear, and the like to provide enhanced puncture, cut, and tear resistance. Such materials have typically been fabricated from continuous filament yarns consisting of filaments of polymeric materials having a tensile strength or tenacity greater than about 10 g/Denier, and more typically greater than 15 g/Denier (referred to hereinafter as xe2x80x9chigh strength,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9chigh tensile strength,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9chigh tenacity,xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cperformancexe2x80x9d materials or fibers). One popular class of polymers for producing such fabrics are the para-aramids, for example, KEVLAR(trademark), TWARON(trademark), and TECHNORA(trademark). Other examples of high strength materials utilized in the prior art for fabricating ballistic and protective fabrics include liquid crystal polyesters (e.g. VECTRAN(trademark)), ultra-high molecular weight polyethylenes (e.g. SPECTRA(trademark)), and poly (p-phenylene-2,6-benzobisoxazole) (PBO)(e.g. ZYLON(trademark)). However, fabrics fabricated from such high-strength materials have typically been limited in use to industrial, military, or police applications involving the formation of puncture-resistant and/or antiballistic devices, shields, body armor, and similar articles. The fabrics constructed from the above-mentioned high strength materials have not been typically employed for fabricating articles of clothing for use as rugged outerwear or sportswear, for example, for use in clothing and other articles of apparel designed for activities such as hiking, hunting, fishing, gardening, participation in contact sports, etc.
There are a variety of reasons why puncture-resistant materials constructed from the above-mentioned high strength materials in forms in which they are typically available have not been typically employed in fabrication of rugged outerwear and other vestments designed and produced for use as casual, sporting, or outdoor outerwear. To begin with, each of the above-mentioned materials tends to be difficult or essentially impossible to dye, color, or print effectively, thereby substantially limiting the color and design options of the articles of apparel constructed from such materials. In addition, the above-mentioned materials, while having outstanding tensile strength characteristics, often have relatively poor abrasion resistance, which is undesirable in articles of clothing designed for use as rugged outerwear or sportswear. Also, filaments of such materials can be difficult to form into small diameter, light weight yarns. Typical yarn sizes commercially available greatly exceed the size and weight of commercially available yarns formed of natural or synthetic non-high tenacity materials, thereby limiting the ability to form lightweight woven fabrics and articles of apparel from such commercially available high tenacity yarns. Finally, the above-mentioned high tenacity materials tend to be very expensive and more difficult to process and weave into fabrics having characteristics desirable or suitable for use as rugged outerwear (with the notable exception of high puncture, cut, and tear resistance) than the more typically employed natural and/or synthetic materials mentioned above having a lower tensile strength.
There remains a need in the art to provide fabrics, fabric systems, and yarns/fiber bundles useful and economical for constructing rugged outerwear and recreational articles of apparel having a higher degree of puncture, tear and cut resistance than typically available, which puncture, tear and cut resistance is useful to prevent against injury to a wearer due to typically-encountered assaults while participating in use of outerwear, for example, exposure to thorns, snake bite, sharp branches, etc., while also maintaining certain, or essentially all, of the desirable properties of currently-employed non-high tenacity fiber-based fabrics, for example, dyability, printability, comfort, abrasion resistance, low cost, softness, quietness, breathability, light weight, etc. The present disclosure describes inventive fabrics, fabric constructions, and fabric systems, which can, in certain embodiments include one or more high tenacity fiber types, providing enhanced puncture, cut, and/or tear resistance, while also retaining some or all of the desirable aesthetic, comfort, and wearability characteristics of conventional rugged outerwear fabrics
The present disclosure describes puncture-resistant fabric layers comprising woven fabrics with unique, densely-woven structures. For example, such a fabric layer ca comprise a high cover factor woven fabric having a fill yarn cover factor of at least about 75% of full and a warp yarn cover factor of at least about 100% of fall formed of a plurality of fill yarns and a plurality of warp yarns, wherein the weight per unit length of the fill yarns is less than the weight per unit length of the warp yarns. Such constructions can, in some embodiments, consist essentially of high tenacity fibers having a tensile breaking strength of at least about 10 g/Denier. Such high cover, small fill yarn constructions enable the disclosed fabrics to be woven to have a decreased overall weight per unit surface area and an improved tensile balance, when compared to known high cover factor, densely woven fabric constructions. Also disclosed are various techniques for forming light weight yarns comprising or consisting essentially of high tenacity fibers for forming the small fill yarns and/or warp yarns of the high cover factor, small fill yarn-constructed fabrics disclosed. The high cover factor, small fill yarn-constructed woven fabrics can, in some embodiments, comprise or consist essentially of natural and/or synthetic fibers having a tensile breaking strength less than about 10 g/Denier, yielding densely woven fabrics with improved puncture, cut, and tear resistance when compared to fabrics formed of the same materials but with conventional woven constructions.
In one aspect, a variety of articles are disclosed. In one embodiment, an article comprising a plurality of fill yarns, having a weight per unit length of a first value, and a plurality of warp yarns, having a weight per unit length of a second value greater than the first value is disclosed. The fill yarns and the warp yarns are woven to form a fabric having a fill yarn cover factor of at least about 75% and a warp yarn cover factor of at least about 100%.
In another embodiment, an article comprising a plurality of fill yarns and a plurality of warp yarns woven to form a fabric having a fill yarn cover factor of at least about 75% and a warp yarn cover factor of at least about 100% is disclosed. At least one of the plurality of yarns forming the fabric comprises at least one fiber bundle formed of spun staple fibers and having a primary twist multiplier of at least about 2.7.
In yet another embodiment, an article comprising a plurality of fill yarns and a plurality of warp yarns woven to form a fabric having a fill yarn cover factor of at least about 75% and a warp yarn cover factor of at least about 100% is disclosed. At least one of the plurality of yarns forming the fabric is a plied yarn comprising at least two fiber bundles plied together and having a secondary twist of at least about xc2xc that of the primary twist of the fiber bundles.
In another aspect, a series of methods are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method is disclosed comprising the step of weaving together a plurality of fill yarns, having a weight per unit length of a first value, and a plurality of warp yarns, having a weight per unit length of a second value greater than the first value, to form woven fabric having a fill yarn cover factor of at least about 75% and a warp yarn cover factor of at least about 100%.
In another embodiment, a method is disclosed comprising the step of weaving together a plurality of fill yarns and a plurality of warp yarns to form a fabric having a fill yarn cover factor of at least about 75% and a warp yarn cover factor of at least about 100%, wherein at least one of the plurality of yarns forming the fabric comprises spun staple fibers coated with a sizing agent prior to or during weaving.
In yet another embodiment, a method is disclosed comprising the step of weaving together a plurality of fill yarns and a plurality of warp yarns to form a fabric having a fill yarn cover factor of at least about 75% and a warp yarn cover factor of at least about 100%, wherein at least one of the plurality of yarns forming the fabric comprises at least one fiber bundle formed of spun staple fibers and has a primary twist multiplier of at least about 2.7.
In another embodiment, a method is disclosed comprising the step of weaving together a plurality of fill yarns and a plurality of warp yarns to form a fabric having a fill yarn cover factor of at least about 75% and a warp yarn cover factor of at least about is 100%, wherein at least one of the plurality of yarns forming the fabric comprises at least two fiber bundles plied together to have a secondary twist of at least about xc2xc that of the primary twist of the fiber bundles.
Other advantages, novel features, and objects of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are schematic and which are not intended to be drawn to scale. In the figures, each identical or nearly identical component that is illustrated in various figures is represented by a single numeral. For purposes of clarity, not every component is labeled in every figure, nor is every component of each embodiment of the invention shown where illustration is not necessary to allow those of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention.